OB Analysis Paper

 For this assignment, you may work alone on this project or work in a team of up to four members to conduct an OB audit of an organization. The purpose of the assignment is for you or your team to apply course concepts to a real world organization and its practices.

Step One: Find an Organization

Alone, or as a group of no more than four, identify an organization that you may use for this project. You may use your professional and personal networks to find an organization. This organization must allow you to gather pertinent information via three interviews with current and/or recent employees. You may choose either a for-profit or a non-profit organization.

Step Two: Select a Topic

After finding an organization and gaining entry, select a topic from the list of class topics below. Please pick only one topic. It is critical that you pick a topic that aligns with the organization you identified. For example, if select the topic Organizational Change, make sure that the organization has gone through or is currently going through some type of major Organizational Change.

• Job Attitudes: investigate the level of job satisfaction and organizational commitment within the organization; examine the antecedents (predictors) of these attitudes
• Work Motivation: use Goal Setting Theory to assess work motivation at the organization
• Job Design: apply the Job Characteristics Model and analyze jobs from this perspective
• Feedback: analyze the performance appraisal system used by the organization to provide feedback to employees
•  Stress Management: analyze the organization’s programs aimed at managing employee stress
• Affect (Moods & Emotions): use Affective Events Theory to investigate affect in the organization in terms of its antecedents (predictors) and consequences (outcomes)
• Diversity: identify and analyze a diversity program within the organization; investigate the level of diversity in the organization, the organization’s plan for managing diversity, and employees’ perceptions of and/or attitudes toward diversity management
• Leadership Effectiveness: using Transformational Leadership Theory and Leader-Member Exchange Theory, investigate the type of leadership within the organization
• Organizational Change: analyze a major organizational change within the organization; address how the change was planned and implemented, the impact of the change on organizational members, and what the organization did to facilitate the change process before/during/after
• Organizational Culture: analyze the culture of the organization

Step Three: Research Your Topic

Prior to conducting the three interviews, it is imperative that you research your group’s topic so as to craft efficient/effective and well-informed interview questions. Using your background research, your group will identify what the organization is doing well and poorly with respect to the chosen topic. Further, using this background research, you will provide recommendations about how to address any deficiencies or problems with the organization. When beginning your background research on the topic, I recommend that you read the corresponding section/chapter of the textbook, as well as review any slides that may have been presented.

After this, your group will find at least 10 peer-reviewed journal articles published 2005 or later for your chosen topic. I recommend that you use Google Scholar, EBSCO host, and/or PsycINFO (which may all be accessed via the PSU library website) to find and access peer-reviewed journal articles. In conjunction with the textbook readings and class slides, these journal articles will help you craft meaningful interview questions, as well as help you identify strengths and weaknesses at the organization and come up with recommendations.

Step Four: Develop a List of Interview Questions

Based on your background research, develop a set of interview questions to ask your three interviewees (who are either current or recent employees of the organization). The purpose of these questions is to gather important general background information about the organization (i.e., what it does, how it is structured, etc.) and more specific information about the organization with respect to your chosen topic.

That is, you will want to determine whether the organization is engaging in good (or bad) practices as informed by your background research. In addition, you will want to use the questions to investigate areas where the organization could be improved in relation to the chosen topic. Finally, it is important that your group refrains from asking sensitive and/or confidential information; this will put the interviewees more at ease and all you to gather better information.

Step Five: Conduct Interviews and Collect Information about the Organization

Using the interview questions you developed, conduct at least three interviews with three current or recent employees at the organization. You may also gather additional information from the organization’s website, the media, or another source that may provide useful information. As mentioned above, make sure that you keep the interviewees’ responses confidential and assure them you will maintain the confidentiality of their responses and their identities; this process should help put the interviewees at ease, which will likely result in better information.

Regarding the format of the interviews, conduct the interviews via telephone, Skype, or preferably in-person. DO NOT CONDUCT INTERVIEWS (OR GATHER INFORMATION) VIA EMAIL OR SURVEYS. Finally, make sure that your interviewees are subject matter experts. That is, if you topic is Organizational Change, pick interviewees that are aware of and knowledgeable about the change.

Step Six: Write the Team Project Paper

For the final step, write the 12-15 page (excluding references and the appendix) team project paper as a team. With regard to the format, please see the following page.

Team Project Paper Format

General Formatting and Submission Guidelines

• Double-spaced; size 12 Times New Roman font
• 1-inch margins on all sides of the paper
• Turn in the paper in Microsoft Word format (.doc, .docx)
• Turn in the completed paper by the deadline via D2L dropbox
• Turn in only one copy of the paper, only 1 person to dropbox but make sure EVERYONE’S name is listed on the title page

Title Page (1 page)

• Title of paper
• Names of all group members (without this, they will not get credit)
• Email addresses of all group members

 Introduction (1 page)

• Provide an overview of the paper
• Summarize the structure/outline of the paper

 Overview of the Organization (1/2 page – 1 page)

• Provide a brief overview of the organization (e.g., industry, product/service, etc.)
• Describe how your group collected information (e.g., interviews, website, etc.)
• While maintaining interviewee confidentiality, describe the interviewees (e.g., job titles, age, gender, tenure, position, etc.)

 Findings (4-7 pages)

• Describe what your group found via the interviewees and other information-gathering methods
• Describe what the organization is doing; describe whether the organization’s practices/programs are working
• Structure your findings in a user-friendly and meaningful manner (e.g., use headings/subheadings)
• In this section, only write about the organization and what it is doing with respect to your focal topic; DO NOT summarize journal articles—rather, use journal articles to help support a point or evaluation you are making about the organization’s practices/programs
• Reminder: perceptions can look very different from reality—as such, make sure to capture the interviewees’ perceptions (e.g., whether they believe the organizational initiatives/goals are achievable)

 Recommendations (4-7 pages)

• Based on your findings, provide recommendations for how the organization might address its weaknesses/deficiencies with respect to your topic
• Describe what the organization is doing well and poorly with respect to your chosen topic—your background research and theory will help you here
• Make sure that your recommendations are logical and feasible
• Apply key course terms and concepts where appropriate
• Cite the appropriate journal article authors to give credit where credit is due
• Make sure your recommendations are based on specific issues facing the organizations (i.e., NOT generic best practices or advice) and that you cite journal articles to justify your recommendations
• Stick to your topic—please refrain from making recommendations related to other topics

Conclusion (1/4 – 1/2 page)

• Provide a summary of the organization
• Summarize your findings
• Summarize your recommendations

References

• Provide a reference list for all sources you used
•  Use APA style—a citation manager software (e.g., EndNote, Mendelay) can help
• See me if you have any questions about formatting

Appendix

• Include the first page of each of the journal articles you cited—remember, there need to be at least 10 peer-reviewed journal articles
• To do so, I recommend using the “Snapshot” feature of Adobe PDF readers and pasting the image into your Appendix
• Include your interview questions